All the exits on I-696 looked the same to me when I came to America 12 years ago. I actually meet a person last night at a wedding who used to work with me, in my first job, 12 years ago. I was cleaning bathrooms and stacking videos till midnight, six sometimes seven days a week.

He was my manager at that time. I was without a car and there were no buses that could take me to Southfield so he used to feel bad for me and take me to wherever I needed to go. The freeways felt very confusing to me because all the darn exits looked the same. I tried remembering the numbers but I could never.

I realized much later that once you start driving on your own – you don’t have to remember anything; it just happens on autopilot. He was teasing me last night about me never being able to figure out where we needed to go. This was before Google Maps and portable GPS and I used to have this map book but still got lost all the time.

All the darn exits on I-696 looked the same to me.

But it took couple of real estate deals to make me realize that I was wrong.

Not all exits are the same. Some of them will actually make you money. They rest will actually suck your bank account dry.

Especially if you buy and sell bank foreclosures in Michigan.

Here is something that is overlooked almost daily by a large number of Michigan real estate investors.

What is that one thing that you CANNOT negotiate?

You can negotiate the buying price with the bank that is selling you the foreclosure. December is right around the corner. They don’t want these Michigan foreclosures. They will discount in suburbs. They will discount even when the foreclosure ONLY needs paint, carpet, cleanup, kitchen cabinets.

You can negotiate the home owners insurance – just shop around. You can knock off anywhere from $100 to $300 off the homeowners insurance with good credit, good track record of not making any prior claims etc. Your buyer might be able to do the same.

But what you cannot negotiate is the property taxes on the foreclosure you are about to buy and flip.

The three exits on I-696 that lead to Southfield – Evergreen Road, Southfield Road, and Greenfield Road are not the same as the one that gets you off on Coolidge and then Woodward.

The first three exits take you to foreclosures with very high property taxes. They might be good deals and most of the times actually Southfield has good number of foreclosure deals but Mama their taxes are HIGH, HIGH and HIGH. When you go to flip the darn thing – your buyer will have a hard time actually being able to pay such high taxes or it will become the deal breaker.

Skip one exit over to Coolidge or one more over to Woodward and you have Oak Park and Ferndale where a similar foreclosure (3 bedrooms, 1.5 to 2 bathrooms) will come with much less property taxes – making it more easier to flip.

No matter where you live in Michigan and choose to buy and sell foreclosures – there are freeway EXITS like those around you, which lead you to cities with cheaper property taxes. There are also freeway EXITS that you should not get off on but rather keep on driving.

You should know where to get off and where to keep on driving in Michigan.

In that knowledge is the difference between flipping a house FAST and sitting on a house for months. Most Michigan real estate investors concentrate on the EQUITY or the price they want to buy the foreclosure at.

The first question that I ask is,

“How much are the property taxes?”

A good thing to do especially if you are new to the game is have a checklist of such questions, printed and kept with you with you go and look at list of foreclosures in Michigan.

I had the pleasure of hanging out with three kick butt REO brokers last week and one of them casually remarked that he has

“60 REO listings right now and 300 coming out of redemption”.

There are lots and lots of foreclosures available, no matter where you live in Michigan, and lot more coming in 2007-2008.

You cannot look at all of them.

You cannot buy all of them.

It helps to start knowing what to look for in a deal even before you jump in your car. Most of my students are trained to spend time in front of a computer, evaluating deals, before they leave their home or office.

Got to know beforehand what makes a good deal so instead of looking at 100 foreclosures and buy 1; you want to research 30; go look at 10 and buy 2.

That is good math.

That is smart math.

Another smart math is spending 3 days with me in Troy, Michigan. We have 3 seats left for QuickStart Bootcamp happening on November 16,17,18 at QuickStart Bootcamp 2.0 in Troy, Michigan.

It is 3 days, just 10 students and myself. We start early and go late at night. No outside speakers. Just me. No risk for you. Sit in for an entire first day. Don’t like what I am showing you. Get your tuition back plus $500 Gas Card. No reasons needed from your end. I really don’t care. A place to come and get the edge, the knowledge, and the sources to go and get deals, money and checks unleashed toward you.

Click here for QuickStart details and see for yourself why my students are kicking butt and taking names all over Michigan.

All the exits on I-696 are not the same. All real estate investing training is not the same. QuickStart 2.0 is a different level. A different game.

December is right around the corner.

You don’t want to miss out on THE BEST MICHIGAN FORECLOSURE BUYING OPPORTUNITY OF 2007.